One happy ending for 2008- Vick's dogs.

[Kyreth]

Remember those 51 dogs that got taken out of his dogfighting kennel?

47 of them are still alive. Two died in the shelter. One was put down for medical reasons, and only one was put down for reasons of being dangerous to others around it.

The other 47?

"Twenty-two dogs went to Best Friends, where McMillan and his staff chart their emotional state daily; almost all show steady improvement in categories such as calmness, sociability and happiness. McMillan believes 17 of the dogs will eventually be adopted, and applicants are being screened for the first of those. The other 25 have been spread around the country; the biggest group, 10, went to California with BAD RAP. Fourteen of the 25 have been placed in permanent homes, and the rest are in foster care."

Donna Reynolds Frodo Kim Ramirez Cindy Houser JASMINE CATALINA STIRLING Stirling - SI Vault

For the pictures, and

Since being rescued 20 months ago from the dogfighting - 12.29.08 - SI Vault

for the story.

It's a story about how bad people can have good dogs, and how you save the victims afterwards.

[arus2001]

I remember having some talk show going on behind me one day and they had a guy talking about one of these dogs they were taking care of. They had footage and such about how it was deathly afraid to go outside and so on, but eventually started to behave with a bit more normalcy.

While the particular breed of dog isn't my thing, it's at least good to see them being helped and making progress.

[Kwijiboe]

They should all be put down.

"Wanna adopt a dog that was used for dog-fighting? It's great with kids!"

[Azkarin2]

They should all be put down.

"Wanna adopt a dog that was used for dog-fighting? It's great with kids!"

Seriously? Even though some people with kind hearts have been rehabilitated? Don't believe in second chances? I'm glad somebody has never made a mistake ever at all in their life.

[Dezzimal]

AFK making 4 "FU 2008" threads for each of the dogs that didn't make it.

[Xiona]

maybe all the people who died in 2008 were to balance out all these dogs living

[Priran]

Seriously? Even though some people with kind hearts have been rehabilitated? Don't believe in second chances? I'm glad somebody has never made a mistake ever at all in their life.

this just in: dogs is people

[Metah]

this just in: dogs is people

In universe #67-A they are, BITCH

[Azkarin2]

this just in: dogs is people

Oh that's cool to make shit up from my statement, care to highlight where I said that? I don't think of dogs as disposable items that should be thrown away at the first sign of trouble. If nobody wanted the dogs or they couldn't be rehabilitated then I agree about putting them down. But to put them down when there are groups that want to help them is wrong. If it can be fixed why not hand it off to that group?

EDIT: My bad, my original statement didn't exactly convey what I meant.

[Gregorio]

Oh that's cool to make shit up from my statement, care to highlight where I said that? I don't think of dogs as disposable items that should be thrown away at the first sign of trouble. If nobody wanted the dogs or they couldn't be rehabilitated then I agree about putting them down. But to put them down when there are groups that want to help them is wrong. If it can be fixed why not hand it off to that group?

Well you did say some "people" with kind hearts have been rehabilitated, and "somebody" has never made a mistake. And if you or someone else would want to take that chance by placing a dog that basically lived to fight around your family that's fine, but I sure as hell wouldn't. But personally I'd rather see every one of the dogs put down than one of them injure a little kid.

[Azkarin2]

Aww hell nah. I wouldn't take one of those dogs if I had kids (or if I wanted a dog). But I know there are some people out there who would take them in and they should be given a chance. I bet there are good programs out there that can help retrain these dogs so that there chance of a violent outburst is similar to another dog.

[Andarvi]

Tough situation. They are doing it to try and right some of the wrong that Vick caused, and if there are success stories from some of the dogs becoming normal and living happy lives. It is a commendable intention and effort and I wouldn't knock those involved for doing it.

There certainly are some problems though. If a family adopts the dogs with good intentions and it backfires and a kid gets attacked, thats terrible. The kid would have had no say in getting the dog and would end up paying the price. I would fear that people would let good intentions cloud their judgment.

With the right situation I don't see a problem with the dogs being relocated, as long as the adopters knew what they were getting themselves into and weren't endangering others. Unfortunately these dogs are impossible to predict.

[Izzy]

Aww hell nah. I wouldn't take one of those dogs if I had kids (or if I wanted a dog). But I know there are some people out there who would take them in and they should be given a chance. I bet there are good programs out there that can help retrain these dogs so that there chance of a violent outburst is similar to another dog.

^^ This.

Just because YOU wouldn't take in a dog like that, doesn't mean someone else wouldn't.

[Belipo Jones]

i would take one of vicks dogs

i hope he comes back to football

[Kohan]

One of my dogs was formerly used for fighting, as he had scars on his face, was extremely scared of people, and had several diseases. It took several vet visits and surgery to fix him up, and a year or so for him to warm up to my family. After that, he was the most awesome dog I'd ever owned, and I still miss him terribly.

He was warm and affectionate toward everyone, including guests. If he ever nipped you during play (it was a couple more years before he started to), he would immediately back off and look at you as if he'd done something horribly wrong. And when I say "nipped," I really mean it -- it was less significant than a lizard biting your finger. So you'd have to pet him and let him know it was fine before you started playing with him again.

Never, not once, did he ever attack or hurt anyone -- aside from running under my legs once and making me fall on hard concrete ass first. He was a Staffordshire pit bull.

For reference, some pics of the breed: Staffordshire Bull Terrier Pictures - picture of Staffordshire Bull Terrier, photos of Staffordshire Bull Terrier

It'd be stupid to assume that every rescued dog would turn out that way, but as aforementioned, those people willing to take a chance should be allowed to.

[Silenka]

When dogs were domesticated they were not bred to bite their owners/owners' family members. It's not natural behavior for them. We have a rescue dog we picked up a while back, he is very young and was very wary of people because someone hit him on the head with a shovel. He still had the mark from it when we got him. At first he was untrustworthy and did the nipping as well, but he stopped that a couple months in. He's turning out to be a great, loving dog (although he still has indoor accidents sometimes, I think he gets mad when we leave the house). I'm not much of a dog person, but of course I believe that every animal deserves a chance or two, especially dogs which were bred to be loyal and good companions.

On the other hand, I wouldn't chance children with dogs that were taught to be vicious, there is a risk minimization factor that goes along with rescuing such dogs >.> As long as they aren't stupid about it, whoever adopts these dogs will be doing them a great favor. Animals are basically toys in people's hands, they have next to no control over what happens to them through life

I would hate to see someone adopt one of these dogs and it bite a child, you know it would be all over the news that day and the scandal would kindle some kind of 'should they put the dog down or not' debate that will last weeks because people have nothing better to talk about. >.>

[Alleya]

this just in: dogs is people

Penny Arcade! - They Hail From Canidon

[LD]

All of them + Frisbee + Intersection = Dec. 30th.

There is no escape.

[melbufrauma]

there was a show on like TLC mayb i think about his dogs, they made a shitton of progress with them and even the most violent ones became calm after they did some like dog therapy lol

[Tyche]

There's a special on NatGeo right now on this. Started about 30 minutes ago though =/